Jason Roebke

Avant-garde bassist Jason Roebke grew up in Kaukauna, WI, where he first took up the instrument at age 14. Upon completing his studies at Lawrence University, he relocated to Madison, WI, for lessons with Chicago jazz legend Roscoe Mitchell. In 1998 he received a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, after which he spent a short time teaching at Albion College before settling in Chicago the next year. Once there, Roebke collaborated regularly with many of the city’s leading avant-jazz figures, among them Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, Jeff Parker, Chad Taylor, and Rob Mazurek. He contributed to two Fred Lonberg-Holm sessions released in 2001 and 2002—A Valentine for Fred Katz and Terminal 4’s When I’m Falling—and made several additional recordings with guitarist Scott Fields. Roebke has traveled repeatedly to Japan, where he has worked with Toshimaru Nakamura, Taku Sugimoto, and Tetuzi Akiyama. Since 1998 he has also maintained the duo Art Union Humanscape alongside dancer Ayako Kato. In 2003 the trio Tigersmilk, comprising Roebke, Mazurek, and percussionist Dylan van der Schyff, issued its debut album.